Offshore Leaks Database is the cornerstone of global financial transparency: ICIJ
| This week marked a new milestone for ICIJ: our Offshore Leaks Database surpassed 800,000 records, confirming its place as one of the most important resources for offshore company data in the world. On Monday, thanks to the tireless work of our team of developers, data analysts, researchers, reporters and editors, we published the first batch of Pandora Papers data, adding more than 15,000 new offshore entities — shell companies, trusts, foundations and more — to the database. The data comes from two of the 14 offshore service providers that are part of the Pandora Papers: Panamanian law firm Alemán, Cordero, Galindo & Lee (Alcogal) and Fidelity Corporate Services, headquartered in the British Virgin Islands. This was a huge lift for our team. The Pandora Papers data is vast and complex — about 96% of the 11.9 million leaked files are unstructured, which means we’ve had to carefully and thoroughly extract records on beneficial owners and company structures. We organize, analyze, and run numerous checks on the data to ensure we are publishing information that is accurate, ethical and in the public interest. It took a core team of 20 people working long days to get the data and the Offshore Leaks website prepared for publication. And there’s still more to go. We are already working on compiling the next batch of Pandora Papers data and further website improvements for early 2022. |
| ICIJ has committed to this work because we understand the power of transparency. Our database is used by governments, investigators and private citizens to uncover secret assets and dodgy business dealings that have been hidden out of sight and out of reach of authorities. This data is used to investigate crimes and to recoup lost tax revenue so it can be used for essential infrastructure. By publishing this data, we are able to bring light into a shadowy world. We make the Offshore Leaks Database freely available to all because we believe this information should be public, and that offshore companies should not be used to hide the secrets of the powerful and wealthy. But making this database freely available comes at a substantial cost. Every batch of data we add takes an enormous effort, every search on the database costs ICIJ money, and keeping our technology and servers maintained requires frequent updates and regular work from our team. All of this is only possible thanks to the generosity of our supporters. If, like us, you believe that this information should be in the public domain, then please make a donation to help us continue this important work. We thank you in advance for your support. Kind regards, Emilia Díaz-Struck Research Editor and Latin America Coordinator PS: By donating today you’ll be doubling your impact! All gifts donated between now and December 31st will be matched dollar for dollar. |
We are republishing this letter to editors from the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists